View source for Lawson Wood

{{short description|English painter, illustrator, and joke cartoonist (1878-1957)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox person
| name        = Lawson Wood
| image       =
| caption     =
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1878|08|23|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Highgate]], London, England
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1957|10|26|1878|08|23|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Honiton]], [[Devon]], England
| other_names = Clarence Lawson Wood
| father      = [[Lewis Pinhorn Wood]]
| spouse      = {{marriage|Charlotte Forge|1902}}
| children    = 3
| known_for   =
| occupation  = Painter, illustrator and designer
| module      = {{infobox military person
| embed       = yes
| allegiance  = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| branch      = [[Royal Flying Corps]]
| battles     = [[World War I]]
}}
}}

'''Lawson Wood''', sometimes '''Clarence Lawson Wood'''{{refn|group=note|Wood disliked the name Clarence and stopped using it in about 1902.{{r|Greenwall-1922-235}}}} {{post-nominals|list=[[Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours|RI]] [[Zoological Society of London|FZS]]}}, (23 August 1878 &ndash; 26 October 1957), was an English painter, illustrator and designer.

==Biography==
[[File:Lawson Wood - Parliamentary Recruiting Committee - Your King & Country Need You.jpg|thumb|1914 World War I British recruitment poster with art by Wood.]]
Lawson Wood was born on 23 August 1878 in [[Highgate, London]], the son of landscape artist [[Lewis Pinhorn Wood|Pinhorn Wood]] {{post-nominals|list=[[Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours|RI]]}} (1848–1918),{{r|Dalby-1991-108}} and the grandson of architectural artist L.J. Wood {{post-nominals|list=[[Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours|RI]]}},{{r|Dalby-1991-108}}  (1813–1901). He studied at the [[Slade School of Fine Art]], at the [[Heatherley School of Fine Art]],{{r|Smith-JVJ-Bio}} and took evening classes at Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting.{{r|Bryant-2018|p=245}}

In 1896, at age 18, he was employed with periodical publisher [[C. Arthur Pearson Ltd|C. Arthur Pearson]].{{r|Dalby-1991-108}}{{refn|group=note|Pearson was a friend of his father.{{r|Bryant-2018|p=245}}}} He soon became Pearson's chief artist, leaving after six years to turn freelance.{{r|Bryant-2018|p=246}}

In 1902, he married the fashion artist Charlotte Forge.{{r|Bryant-2018|p=246}} The couple had two sons and one daughter.{{r|WWW-Vol5-1188}}

==Work==
From the age of 24 he pursued a successful freelance career and was published in  ''[[The Graphic]]'', ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'', ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', and the ''[[Boys Own Paper]]''. He illustrated a number of books including [[Louis Tracy]]'s ''[[The Invaders]]'' in 1901 for Pearson.{{r|Smith-JVJ-Bio}}

[[File:Lawson Wood Prestone ad circa 1950s.JPG|thumb|A Lawson Wood ad for Prestone Anti-Freeze.]]
His books include ''The Bow-Wow Book'' (1912), ''Rummy Tales'' (1920), ''The Noo-Zoo Tales'' (1922), ''Jolly Rhymes'' (1926), ''Fun Fair'' (1931), ''The Old Nursery Rhymes'' (1933), ''The Bedtime Picture Book'' (1943), ''Meddlesome Monkeys'' (1946) and ''Mischief Makers'' (1946).{{r|Dalby-1991-108}} Frederick Warne of London a seried of ''Mr.'' books by Wood in 1916:''Mr Prickles'', ''Mr Quack'', ''Mr Trunk'', ''Mr Grunt'', ''Mr Fox'', and ''Mr Pup''{{r|Darling-1999-144-5}}.

==Assessment==
Peppin and Micklethwait stated that Wood's wide reputation as a humorous illustrator and commercial artist was based in part on astute management. He retained the copyright in his work and licensed it in Britain and abroad for posters, postcards, etc.{{r|Peppin-Micklethwait-329}} Cran'pop was merchandised in pottery, calendars, postcards, and cigarette cards.{{r|Bryant-2018|p=246}} Wood worked in pen and ink, pencils, chalk, and watercolour{{r|Peppin-Micklethwait-329}}. He used a specially made enamel palette about one foot (300{{nbsp}}mm) square and worked on Milburn Drawing Board at an architects desk.{{r|Bryant-2018|p=246}}

Houfe said that most of Wood's work was "humorous in drawing and content, his repertoire of characters including peppery army officers, namby-pamby men and dominating old dames. The figures are heavily caricatured and he was one of the group of artists who made capital 
out of imaginary prehistoric scenes."{{r|Houfe-1996-354}} Kelly calls a watercolour by Wood "a welcome holiday from the prehistoric monsters and chimpanzees on which he wasted so much talent."{{r|Kelly-1975-113}} Peppin and Micklethwait cite [[Percy Bradshaw]] as saying the Wood had a "breadth, ease and fluency which many an infinitely more serious artist must envy".{{r|Peppin-Micklethwait-329}}

==Later life==
Wood lived in a 15th-century medieval manor house he moved brick by brick from [[Sussex]] to the [[Kent]] border. He died in Devon on 26 October 1957 at the age of 79.{{r|Dalby-1991-108}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Bryant-2018">{{cite book | first1=Mark | last1=Bryant | title=Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Cartoonists and Caricaturists | publisher=Routledge | date=2018 | location=London}}</ref>

<ref name="Dalby-1991-108">{{cite book | first1=Richard | last1=Dalby | title=The Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration | publisher=Chartwell Books, Inc. | date=1991 | location=Edison, New Jersey | pages=108 | isbn=0-7858-1427-2}}</ref>

<ref name="Darling-1999-144-5">{{cite book | first1=Harold | last1=Darling | url=https://archive.org/details/frommothergooset00darl | title=From Mother Goose to Dr. Seuss: Children's Book Covers 1860-1960 | publisher=Chronicle Books | date=1999 | accessdate=2020-08-25 | last2=Chwast | first2=Seymour | location=San Francisco | pages=144–5 | isbn=0-8118-1898-5 | url-access=registration | via=The [[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

<ref name="Greenwall-1922-235">{{cite book | first1=Ryno | last1=Greenwall | title=Artists and Illustrators of the Anglo-Boer War | publisher=Fernwood Press | date=1905-06-14 | location=Vlaeberg, Western Cape, South Africa | pages=235 | isbn=0-9583154-2-6}}</ref>

<ref name="Houfe-1996-354">{{cite book | first1=Simon | last1=Houfe | title=Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists | publisher=Antique Collectors' Club | date=1996 | location=Woodbridge | page=354 | isbn=1-85149-193-7 | via=0}}</ref>

<ref name="Kelly-1975-113">{{cite book | first1=C. M. | last1=Kelly | title=The Brocks, A family of Cambridge Artists and Illustrators | publisher=Charles Skilton Ltd. | date=1975 | location=London | pages=113}}</ref>

<ref name="Smith-JVJ-Bio">{{cite web | first1=Jane Felecity | last1=Smith | url=http://www.bpib.com:80/illustra2/lwood.htm | title=Lawson Wood: Guest Biography courtesy of Jane Felicity Smith | accessdate=2020-08-25 | website=JVJ Publishing: Illustrators| url-status=usurped | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209001849/http://www.bpib.com:80/illustra2/lwood.htm | archive-date=9 February 2020 }}</ref>

<ref name="Peppin-Micklethwait-329">{{cite book | first1=Bridget | last1=Peppin | url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbrit00pepp | title=Dictionary of British Book Illustrators: The Twentieth Centrury | publisher=John Murray | date=1905-06-06 | accessdate=2020-08-25 | last2=Micklethwait | first2=Lucy | location=London | pages=329 | isbn=0-7195-3985-4 | via=The [[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

<ref name="WWW-Vol5-1188">{{cite book | last1=A. & C. Black Ltd. | url=https://archive.org/details/whowaswho195119605lond | title=Who Was Who: Volume V 1951-1960: A Companion to Who's Who Containing the Biographies of Those Who Died During the Decade 1951-1960 | publisher=Adam and Charles Black | date=1964 | accessdate=2020-08-25 | volume=5: 1951-1960 | edition=2nd | location=London | pages=1188 | url-access=registration | via=The [[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
{{Portal |Visual arts }}
* [http://www.artnet.com/artist/682370/lawson-wood.html Lawson Wood on Artnet]
* [http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a9021/lawson-wood-posters.htm Lawson Wood artworks]
* {{LCAuth|n87893523|Lawson Wood|6|ue}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Lawson}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English painters]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
[[Category:20th-century English painters]]
[[Category:English watercolourists]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:The New Yorker cartoonists]]
[[Category:People from Highgate]]
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century English male artists]]